Thin film materials containing metal elements exhibit electrical characteristics, optical characteristics and the like, and are thus used in a variety of applications. For example, copper and copper-containing thin films exhibit the properties of a high electrical conductivity, a high resistance to electromigration, and a high melting point and as a result are used as LSI interconnect materials. In addition, nickel and nickel-containing thin films are used mainly, for example, for electronic component members, e.g., resistive films and barrier films, for recording media members, e.g., magnetic films, and for members for thin-film solar cells, e.g., electrodes. Moreover, cobalt and cobalt-containing thin films are used, for example, for electrode films, resistive films, adhesive films, magnetic tapes, and carbide tool members.
The methods for producing these thin films can be exemplified by sputtering methods, ion plating methods, MOD methods such as coating-pyrolysis methods and sol-gel methods, and chemical vapor deposition methods. However, chemical vapor deposition (also referred to hereafter simply as CVD), which includes atomic layer deposition (ALD), is the optimal production process because it has a number of advantages, e.g., it offers excellent composition controllability and an excellent step coverage capability, it supports mass production, and it enables hybrid integration.
A large number of diverse starting materials have been reported for the metal source used in chemical vapor deposition. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a tertiary aminoalkoxide compound of nickel that can be used as a starting material for forming a nickel-containing thin film by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). Also, Patent Document 2 discloses a tertiary aminoalkoxide compound of cobalt that can be used as a starting material for forming a cobalt-containing thin film by MOCVD. Further, Patent Document 3 discloses a tertiary aminoalkoxide compound of copper that can be used as a starting material for forming a copper-containing thin film by chemical vapor deposition. Non-Patent Document 1 discloses tertiary imidoalkoxide compounds of copper, nickel, cobalt, iron, manganese, and chromium.